Conventionally, such decompression panels are held in respective holes in the separation devices by detachable mounting elements that release the panel in response to a decompression situation to open the decompression hole.
Explosive decompressions may occur in aircraft flying at altitudes where the external atmospheric pressure is noticeably lower than at ground level. Aircraft required to fly at such altitudes must be equipped to provide inside the aircraft body an air pressure corresponding substantially to ground level atmospheric pressure. As a result, a differential pressure exists across the aircraft body wall with the excess pressure prevailing inside the aircraft body.
Conventional aircraft enclose within the aircraft body in addition to a passenger compartment, also a freight compartment. The two compartments are separated by a separation device, such as a separating wall or a separating floor. Additionally, it is known to seal the freight compartment or space by special enclosure walls. It is necessary to provide a decompression equalization system between the two compartments because an explosive decompression would lead to the destruction of the intermediate floor or divider wall and thus also to any installation mounted in these separation devices including control systems.
German Patent Publication (DE-PS) 3,715,328 discloses a pressure equalization system in which openings are provided in the intermediate wall or in the intermediate floor between freight and passenger compartments, and wherein these openings are closed by panel elements held in place by spring clamps. These spring clamps cooperate with flanges that reach around the rim around an opening. The spring clamps are constructed each with two defined breaking locations in such a manner that these locations break in response to a defined pressure difference range. Depending on the decompression direction the decompression panel will be pressed either in the direction of the freight compartment or in the direction of the passenger compartment. Due to the need for two defined breakage locations for each spring clamp, it is difficult to provide a sufficiently precisely defined response characteristic or range for releasing the panels to open the respective opening in response to a defined difference pressure. This is so because the above mentioned flange also exerts certain holding forces.